By Staff Reporter
N’WAMITWA-Limpopo Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba has issued a powerful battle cry to the youth of the province, urging them not to allow the current economic crisis to define their identity.
Premier Ramathuba was delivering her keynote address today, Tuesday, 16 June 2026, during the official Provincial Youth Day Commemoration held at Vasasele Primary School in N’wamitwa Village, under the Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality.
Addressing hundreds of young people, traditional leaders, and high-ranking government officials—including the Speaker of the Provincial Legislature Dr Makoma Makhurupetje and Mopani District Executive Mayor Cllr Pyle Shayi Ramathuba noted that while the youth of 1976 fought against the brutal apartheid military machine, the youth of 2026 are locked in a silent war against poverty, joblessness, and structural exclusion.
Backed by concrete numbers, the Premier unveiled massive, multi-million rand infrastructural and economic investments driven by various provincial departments specifically aimed at absorbing young people into the active workforce before the end of the 2026/27 financial year.
The Premier broke down a comprehensive, inter-departmental rollout plan designed to create long-term economic pipelines for the youth of Limpopo:
The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture is investing over R50 million into rural infrastructure. This includes R15 million toward a Sport High Performance Centre which is projected to create 1,200 jobs, alongside R18 million to fully operationalise the Provincial Theatre, opening up 2,000 opportunities for local creatives.
The Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure created 64,313 EPWP work opportunities during the 2025/26 financial year. Ramathuba announced that by July 2026, the department will recruit an additional 238 permanent employees and fill 143 vacant posts, alongside 210 new critical trade apprenticeships partnered with MERSETA and CETA.
The Department of Transport and Community Safety will immediately recruit 400 young people into the *Young Civilians on Patrol Programme* and take in an additional 200 youths for Traffic Officer Learnerships.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has revived local irrigation schemes, poultry infrastructure, and packhouses, already securing 328 direct employment opportunities for emerging youth farmers.
In preparing Limpopo for a digital economy, 12 young ambassadors from the province have been sent to China to study engineering and new energy technologies.
Premier Ramathuba announced that the 2026/27 Call for Proposals is officially open today. She challenged local small businesses, youth-led enterprises, and township cooperatives to download application guidelines from the Limpopo Provincial Government website or collect hard copies from the Office of the Premier at 40 Hans van Rensburg Street in Polokwane, local municipal LED units, and Traditional Council offices.
With South Africa preparing for highly contested Local Government Elections on 04 November 2026, the Premier closed her address with a stern reminder that democratic voting was bought with blood on June 16, 1976.
She made a passionate plea to the youth of Mopani and the wider Limpopo region to register in masses during the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) first official voter registration weekend coming up this Saturday and Sunday.
“Unemployment remains a painful wound, but do not let it become your identity. You are not statistics; you are rivers that have not yet found their valley,” Ramathuba concluded to roaring applause from the N’wamitwa crowd.
@Tzaneenvoice
